BUT! I did film, edit, voice-over, produce and upload a short video (you can click below to enlarge) that shows how to knit a striped cowl from start to finish. It's going to take you more than 10 minutes to knit but only 10.5 minutes to watch (plus, probably some start, stop, rewind, wonder what the hell I am trying to demonstrate time).

I have shared my go-to cowl tutorial before but this one is a bit different because it's smaller (tighter to the neck) and uses two colors which makes it look much more impressive than it is. The secret to a two-color cowl is keeping both colors attached the whole way through (which I demonstrate in the video). The video also covers how to long tail cast on, how to knit both the English and Continental styles, how to cast off, how to weave in your tails and what I do when I am not sure why something looks odd (spoiler alert - push through!).

If you know what you're doing and don't want to watch a video, pattern instructions are below.

Long-tail cast on 64 stitches with starting color. Join the round, taking care to make sure there are no twists in your yarn. Knit all the way around with the second color. Switch back to the first color. Continue this alternating pattern for 54 rows total. Cast off with the same color you started with. Weave in ends.

TA-DA! Pull a gray sweater out of the hamper to match, pretend it's not 80 degrees in November and wear with pride!

It's quite likely this "tutorial" is already known by most photo-savvy folks, but I had NO idea that this technology existed until a few months ago. I re-size every photo on my blog (and every photo on my website) to properly fit the column/size needed. Part of this is making them "web-friendly" or reducing the resolution to 72dpi so load times are not too long. These photos are NOT printer-friendly, but they look great on screens.

Before I learned this "process multiple files" trick I was re-sizing each image on it's own and it took minutes instead of seconds, which over the course of a month really adds up. I dreaded photo-heavy posts because they were so time intensive to prepare. Now I'm like, "bring it." (And I have brought it here, here and here.)

The above three minute video (click here to view full-size and be sure to let it load fully before starting) shows you how I used to process my image files one at a time and then shares my time-saving tip. I use PSE9 (I know, I know, upgrade already!) but I imagine the idea is similar no matter what version of PSE or PS you have.

I hope this helps! It was a gamechanger and time-saver for me, FOR SURE.

I'm currently collecting frames from various thrift shops to try and achieve something awesome on the walls of our bathroom. While on the hunt, I spotted a giant frame (for $5.99) at Goodwill. It was not with the normal frames but in the "art" section. (I always take peek there too to see what I can re-purpose.)

The art in it (shown above) was not my taste. But the huge size? The light wood? The killer square mat? I loved ALL of those things.

Enough that I didn't mind that the top of the frame was scratched (again, may I remind you: $5.99).

I bought it promptly and on the way home decided I'd use an engineer print to get a cheap photo that would be large enough to fill the square space. With the maroon mat removed, it's about 17.5x17.5.

Picking a photo was easy. I knew I wanted a current one of the three of us. When I frame photos, I am always looking for something more non-traditional. Us, in our life, doing our thing is so much more interesting to me than the "posed" stuff. This photo was taken with my iPhone (into a very smudged mirror) and processed with VSCO app to make it black and white.

I recorded a VERY short video that shows how I prepped the photo to order my engineer print (you can watch it above). This particular engineer print was $1.79 and I ordered it here.

The important thing to note from the video is that you must make your photo canvas 300 dpi and then enlarge your photo to fit that size. This is going to give you a better image than just trying to print a small photo in large size (without first resizing it up). The method I share will not work for high-quality printing - if this was a real photo it would look totally grainy, but for a low-quality engineer print, it works pretty well.

I picked up my print in store. Engineer prints only come in black and white and are printed on what feels like normal computer paper. Mine was rolled and Ellerie may have grabbed it, causing a few dents. (No big deal.)

Once I had the print, I got to work opening up my frame. Since this piece had been professionally framed it was a bit more work to replace the art (I had to rip the paper backing and then pull up a bunch of staples) but not that big of a deal (again, $5.99).

Then I dropped my photo into place (I didn't even have to trim it because the mat is so huge) and sealed it back up. (Then I noticed there was a lot of dust in it and had to open it up again.) But...

TA-DA! AN EIGHT DOLLAR (FUN) STATEMENT FOR OUR BEDROOM.

p.s. I totally get that repeating a similar project like this means finding a huge frame for cheap at a thrift store in the first place. So that's annoying. BUT, if you're already headed there on occasion, take a spin through the art section. You many find something great and if you do, now you have a fun way to re-purpose it (for cheap).

You guys, this is the post I wanted to read last fall but couldn't find. I didn't want extra details. I didn't want to know about why podcasting is good. I didn't want suggestions for how to resonate with my audience. I just wanted a step-by-step how to - preferably with a very short video tutorial. I've done by best to create that for YOU, reader who might be interested, and YOU, random person who just stumbled on this blog after a google search for "how to launch a podcast".

I am on a Mac and so I am sharing how things work on a Mac. BUT, if you are not on a Mac, your really just need to download iTunes and find a program that will let you record your episodes. Other than that, the steps are the same.

The above video walks you through it. It's BRIEF (less than five minutes) because I just want to give you and idea of the steps and what things look like. Obviously, if you are setting up your podcast for the first time it's going to take a bit longer than five minutes, but really, this is DO-ABLE and FAST.

And here is the numbered break down :

create a recording. I use garage band (which comes "free" on Apple computers) because it has a "podcast" feature. If you want to host guests, you can set up a call in Skype (also free to download) and let the garage band recording run as you are talking. There are many fancy programs that can be used to record a clearer call but I didn't download them. Eventually I will ELISE GETS CRAFTY a little more "high-tech" but my goal right now is to make it listen-able, not flawless.

export your recording to your iTunes program (this comes standard on your Mac computer or can be downloaded here).

create a square graphic for your podcast thumbnail (I did this in PSE and you can see it here).

set up a hosting account that will generate a RSS feed for your new show. (I use libsyn.com and currently pay $5/month.) Complete the process for naming your podcast and uploading your podcast graphic. This step is pretty self-explanatory, but they have a support team that can help you if you get stuck.

go to the iTunes store on your computer and under podcasts select "submit a podcast" on the right hand side.

paste your feed into the box and complete the steps. It might take a day or two for your podcast get approved and to appear on iTunes.

upload new episodes to your hosting account as frequently as you want (though you may pay more based on how much file space you are taking up).

YOU ARE NOW A PODCASTER.

Really, truly, it's simple. I think I struggled early on because I was getting VERY helpful suggestions (thank you, thank you if you emailed me!!) but they were coming out of order. Sitting down to create that first recording (episode 1) in garage band was REALLY helpful because then I had an actual audio file to "use" and practice with. There are 1,000 ways to do this (I know because I googled and read through them ALL) but this will work. ;)

I want to shout out to Jessica Kupferman's podcasting webinar. Listening to her break it down was the push I needed to really get started and figure out how all this worked. You can find out more about Jessica here and subscribe to her podcast here. Jessica, you don't know me, but thank you!!!

I was pretty pleased with how my marbled cards turned out, but it wasn't until I had cleaned up all the supplies that I had the idea to try on some 3D objects.

I got everything back out and sacraficed a few white vases (bought on Target clearance last fall) to the cause. Figuring, per usual, that the very worst that would happen is it wouldn't work.

But hooray! It worked.

I used the same exact technique to swirl the nail polish and then I just rolled the vase on the surface of the water (remember to wear gloves!). The paint swirls came right up and adhered to the sides. Afterwards, I lightly patted on the vase in the places where the nail polish was a tiny bit clumpy. I found that if I got polish in a place I didn't want it or it smudged, I was able to remove it with a bit of nail polish remover and a cotton ball.

This method, because of the rolling, took a bit more effort, but the results were so fun. I found a bunch of small white bowls at Goodwill and marbled them (see totally addicting).

Since I used nail polish for the paint, I wouldn't use these for food, but they're perfect "catch-all" dishes for jewelry, keys and washi tape.

The trick with this project, is to be flexible. It's hard to make this look exactly like how you hope and so you have to just enjoy whatever you get. But practice makes better and the results are surprisingly cool.

My name is Elise Blaha Cripe. I live in San Diego, California with my husband and young daughter.

I make stuff like it's my job.

I just launched GET TO WORK BOOK™, a daily planner + goal-setting journal. I also own a shop where I sell rad handmade items. This blog is where I share general life musings, insight into being a small business owner and the occasional craft project.

Unless otherwise stated, all words and photos on this blog are my own. If you use a photo, please link back to this site to provide credit. Under no circumstances, should the text of this blog be copied and re-posted elsewhere unless you have permission from me to do so. Please note, hurtful or offensive anonymous comments will be blocked.

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